Secondly, I listed out my strengths, weaknesses, and things that I wanted to learn.

I also made sure that my writing was relevant for each case and touched upon the different phases of the design process. I prioritized quality over quantity by getting rid of projects that didn’t necessarily help my case, and I focused on showcasing who I was as a designer and my ways of working, rather than the end result and shiny mockups. I spent a significant amount of time 'cleaning up' and preparing my portfolio.

The first thing I did was read different resources on design portfolios, resumes and interview preparations. Ian: I started preparing for my application about four months before applying. What did you do to prepare your personal brand prior to applying? My varied past experience meant that I was familiar with different parts of the design process, whether it was coming up with a new design concept for a client, carrying out usability testing with users, or proposing a new business vertical. I was also nearing the end of a seven-month-long design internship at a creative agency where I worked with big fashion clients on their digital experiences. By the time the Spotify internship started in the summer of 2021, I was graduating from a UX design program at a school called Hyper Island in Sweden.

René: I completed a six-month UX internship in 2020 where I got to establish “ResearchOps”, which involved organizing and optimizing processes, tools, and strategies to support large-scale user research and amplifying its impact across the organization.

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